Payment Interfaces – What you need to know

An interface is a shared boundary across which two or more separate components of computer system exchange information. The exchange can be between software, computer hardware, peripheral devices, humans and combinations of these. Payment transaction by the transfer of information between a payment portal (such as a website, mobile phone or interactive voice response service) and the front end processor or acquiring bank is facilitated with the Payment Interface using a Smartphone.

It allows a customer to pay directly from a bank account to different merchants, both online and offline, without the hassle of typing credit card details, IFSC code, or net banking/wallet passwords. For instance, your local shopkeeper can send a request to pull funds for the purchases you have made after sending a request on your unique virtual address. You can confirm the payment by saying OK and the payment will be carried out instantly after being validated at the back end by the bank. And you can receive cash through this system in the same way.

THE UNIFIED PAYMENT INTERFACE

The difference between UPI and payment modes such as NEFT and IMPS is that bank account details are not shared in the transaction, and transactions can be made 24×7 all year round. NEFT transactions do not happen on holidays and during non-banking hours, there are limitations in funds transfer; in IMPS, account details and details like the 11-digit Indian Financial System (IFS) Code, which indicates a bank’s branch code, have to be entered. The other advantage is that it is possible to have multiple unique virtual addresses and use multiple bank accounts, and without necessarily having to go through your own bank for a variety of transactions. For the shopkeeper or other large establishments, it also facilitates the transaction without physically going through the cards for payment through an electronic machine such as a card reader.

The payment Interface fits in well with a move to migrate towards a cashless economy in the medium and long term. By bringing person to person payments for even very small amounts online, it would be possible to reduce the amount of cash in the system and towards more digitalized system prevailing all over the public and business transactions.

NeelProSystem provides POS terminal services for bank’s core banking and other transactions systems to connect with all the services delivery & payment channels including ATMs, Internet, Mobile, Kiosk, POS, Cards and other Payment Gateways. In finality, our solution connects to the national & international payment gateways to provide homogeneous integration of the customer banks to the global payment systems.